In General Dynamics United Kingdom Ltd v State of Libya [2021] UKSC 22 the Supreme Court (the “Court“), by a majority of 3 to 2, held that s12(1) State Immunity Act 1978 (the “SIA“) contains a “mandatory and exclusive” procedure for the service of documents instituting court proceedings on a State through the Foreign, Commonwealth … Read more

Sovereign wealth funds invest across a range of asset classes and engage in capital markets and loan transactions. Their engagement in these activities is consistent with that of any other commercial actor. However, the connection between a sovereign wealth fund and the State by which it has been created raises the question of whether the … Read more

The Government of India has lost the first of three keenly anticipated decisions on the retrospective tax liabilities introduced by statute in 2012 to reverse the ruling of the Indian Supreme Court in the Vodafone case. The legislation was introduced in the Finance Act 2012 to reverse the Supreme Court’s ruling that Vodafone was not … Read more

In a helpful clarification of the rules surrounding the registration of International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) awards in England and Wales, the English High Court has ruled in Union Fenosa Gas SA v Egypt [2020] EWHC 1723 (Comm) here, that service of a claim form on a state is not required under … Read more

In Micula and others (Respondents/Cross-Appellants) v Romania (Appellant/Cross-Respondent) [2020] UKSC 5 the UK Supreme Court (the “SC”) found that the duty of sincere cooperation under EU law does not preclude enforcement of an ICSID Convention (the “Convention”) award against Romania (the “Award”). In what is the enforcement stage of the long-running and well-known saga of … Read more

In MODSAF v IMS [2020] EWCA Civ 145, the Court of Appeal confirmed that an award debtor was not liable to pay interest on an arbitration award where it was prohibited to satisfy this award by international sanctions. Background On 24 June 2008, the Ministry of Defence and Support for Armed Forces of the Islamic … Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills has helped secure an important victory for the Kingdom of Spain in a long-running investor-state arbitration concerning regulatory changes made by Spain in 2010 to the Feed-in Tariff regulation governing the photovoltaic (“PV”) sector in Spain. Read more

An ad hoc committee (the “Resubmission Committee“) has recently dismissed the claimants’ application to annul a resubmission award issued in September 2016 (and subsequently rectified) in Victor Pey Casado and President Allende Foundation v Republic of Chile (ICSID Case No. ARB/98/2), the longest dispute in the history of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment … Read more